Radeon 9250 driver (?) problem

[guv]

Ive just built 2 identical systems consisting:

PC Chips 860 (via chipset)
Sempron 3.1
Crucial 512MB single DDR400 3200
Radeon9250 256MB
SATA 200 gig Maxtor HD
16x DVD+/-R/Ram
XP Pro

When both machines boot, mostly they load the ati drivers and work for
a few minutes, then an error message saying that different ati dlls
etc are failing to respond to the card properly and generating an
error report to email. (The email address is invalid - but thats
another issue!)

Bios is set to 256 aperture
PCI IRQ is switched off.

Sometimes the machine boots to the login screen, then freezes, then
reboots.

Ive tried various catalyst drivers, but they all end up with the same
result. Sometimes it goes back to native 16 colour 640x480, sometimes
a black screen that refreshes and destop returns, others it doesnt.

Ive also tried one machine with the pair of cruial DDRs in and for a
while, I thought I had cracked it, but the end result is the same.

The Ram is stated as compatible with the M860 motherboards - and
checks out fine with memtest86. The latest BIOS for the motherboard is
installed and also using the newest board drivers. (Having said that,
should there be an AGP motherboard driver?

Im getting pretty fed up now of loading and uninstalling different
versions of the ati drivers and my hair is getting thinner due to the
clumps I have been pulling out!

I appreciate more info is probably needed, so please ask away...


Regards

Les

 

[guv]

Ive just built 2 identical systems consisting:

PC Chips 860 (via chipset)
Sempron 3.1
Crucial 512MB single DDR400 3200
Radeon9250 256MB
SATA 200 gig Maxtor HD
16x DVD+/-R/Ram
XP Pro

Should have added that its XP Pro SP2!

 

[Richy]

Ive just built 2 identical systems consisting:

PC Chips 860 (via chipset)
Sempron 3.1
Crucial 512MB single DDR400 3200
Radeon9250 256MB
SATA 200 gig Maxtor HD
16x DVD+/-R/Ram
XP Pro

When both machines boot, mostly they load the ati drivers and work for
a few minutes, then an error message saying that different ati dlls
etc are failing to respond to the card properly and generating an
error report to email. (The email address is invalid - but thats
another issue!)

Bios is set to 256 aperture
PCI IRQ is switched off.

Sometimes the machine boots to the login screen, then freezes, then
reboots.

Ive tried various catalyst drivers, but they all end up with the same
result. Sometimes it goes back to native 16 colour 640x480, sometimes
a black screen that refreshes and destop returns, others it doesnt.

Ive also tried one machine with the pair of cruial DDRs in and for a
while, I thought I had cracked it, but the end result is the same.

The Ram is stated as compatible with the M860 motherboards - and
checks out fine with memtest86. The latest BIOS for the motherboard is
installed and also using the newest board drivers. (Having said that,
should there be an AGP motherboard driver?

Im getting pretty fed up now of loading and uninstalling different
versions of the ati drivers and my hair is getting thinner due to the
clumps I have been pulling out!

I appreciate more info is probably needed, so please ask away...


Regards

Les

I was having exact same issues with 9600 pro 256mb card (see post below),
but i finally managed to get it working today after lots of mucking about
betweent 2 pcs. It all boiled down to memory and bios settings.

My pc 1gb ddr (2x 512mb sticks) 2.4 xp kt4av mb with latest chipset drivers
bios etc didnt want to know with exact problems you are having, so tried it
in other pc with different northbridge chipset and 256mb ddr and it worked a
treat, but need more memory in that pc to play bf2 so took 512mb out of my
pc and put in with 256mb and i be buggered if it didnt go tits up again same
as before on my pc, so left that 512mb in took 256mb to my pc with exsisting
512mb and worked a charm on my pc now, and other pc is using my old 128mb
geforce mx4000 with 512mb but that stick of 512mb it would seem is the ones
causing probs with my ati card, go figure!??!

 

[guv]

I was having exact same issues with 9600 pro 256mb card (see post below),
but i finally managed to get it working today after lots of mucking about
betweent 2 pcs. It all boiled down to memory and bios settings.

My pc 1gb ddr (2x 512mb sticks) 2.4 xp kt4av mb with latest chipset drivers
bios etc didnt want to know with exact problems you are having, so tried it
in other pc with different northbridge chipset and 256mb ddr and it worked a
treat, but need more memory in that pc to play bf2 so took 512mb out of my
pc and put in with 256mb and i be buggered if it didnt go tits up again same
as before on my pc, so left that 512mb in took 256mb to my pc with exsisting
512mb and worked a charm on my pc now, and other pc is using my old 128mb
geforce mx4000 with 512mb but that stick of 512mb it would seem is the ones
causing probs with my ati card, go figure!??!

Cheers Richy.

The ram I am using (crucial) is single sided DDR400 3200 and is
definately meant to be compatible. When I first put them as a pair in
one of the machines, as mentioned, I did think I had cracked it as I
got no freezes or anything for a while... but then almost as if I was
willing it to happen, it started freezing and finally crashing. Thing
is, I am taking about with no apps loaded - only startup stuff.

I am certain it will turn out to be either a wrong setting or
incompatibilty, but its as frustrating as hell - not to mention time
consuming.

I have sent an email to ATI with a crash report, so fingers crossed.
Not sure how long that will take or how much they actually look into
it.

One thing is sure, the mother board and the graphics card makers (PC
Chips and Connect 3d) are very sparse where it comes to support and
fault finding. I think I will spend more time next time and
investigate that side of things better before passing over my cash!